"There are some things you can only learn in a storm"

O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O

I do NOT own RWBY or the Monster Hunter franchise. All rights go to their respective owners.

*Krakoom!*

Lightning and thunder danced across the dark canvas in the sky. "Tighten those sails! Secure everythin' tha' isn't nailed down! Make triple sure yer lifelines and good and tight!" The captain of The Argosy yelled over the raging winds of the storm. Men and women ran to and fro making sure to do everything in their power to keep the ship from sinking.

The deckhands ferried buckets of water from below deck and tossing their contents overboard. The canoneers made sure all cannons, gunpowder and lights were stowed, away from the rain. The Sailmen sat at the rigging frantically tying the sail down in order to keep the ship from capsizing because of the wind. The cabin boy, one Jim E. Hawkins, had just finished tying down a loose barrel below deck when he was told to report back to the captain.

Jim was a simple lad with simple short brown hair. He wore simple brown baggy pants with a simple brown shirt underneath a simple worn black leather jacket. He even had a simple rat tale hanging behind his head. Jim was born in the Old World where his mother owned a fairly popular inn in a port town. His father was a Hunter, and he idolized the man for it. His admiration turned to resentment though when one day his father never came back from a hunt, leaving him and his civilian mother to try and make ends meet all by themselves. His mother tried her very best but balancing trying to run an inn and taking care of a son was a daunting task indeed. A screech pierced the clouds and the whole crew went silent. It was as if the wind itself grew a voice and shrieked with all its rage and might.

When Jim heard The Argosy, a ship renowned for going to the New World and back, was hiring for a Cabin Boy he immediately jumped at the opportunity. Not only did it give him a chance to escape his miserable life back home but he could finally help his mother. She could handle the inn alone for a few days without him, she was tough enough to handle anything that came her way. Plus, despite being only a Cabin Boy the job paid well, really well. Enough to set their business up for two whole months! And so with that Jim left a note by his bed and departed off to the New World.

xXFlashbackXx

The trip to the New World was easy enough, clear skies and a steady wind. They made it to the new continent in record time according to the Captain. Jim couldn't believe his eyes when they docked in, what he later learned was called, Astera. The place was bustling with Hunters and Handlers and Wyverians and Palicoes going this way and that, carrying who's it's and what's it's here and there. He looked up to see... wait, was that a... no... that couldn't possibly be a ship on-top of a cliff with chains leading to and from it... right?

A rough calloused hand slapped his back and almost knocked the wind out of him. "Bet yah ain't never seen anything like this back in the Old World have yah lad?" The familiar voice of the Captain asked him. What could he do except shake his head dumbly with his mouth hanging open? Everything about Astera screamed "makeshift" but not in a bad way, no sir. Everything was used, from parts of large monsters to drift wood. Hell, even the broken hull of a ship that was literally torn in half was re-purposed to serve as a living area. "Go and explore, lad. Ahm going tah go barter for some supplies and sell a few wares." The captain said before stalking off.

Jim stood in place for a few minutes, unsure what to do. He had never experienced anything like this before. Sure, he had been to other towns back in the Old World but none of them ever compared to Astera... well, none except Loc Lac maybe. He stood there for a couple of minutes awkwardly shifting his feet when he heard someone call out to him from his left.

"Hey there." The person said. Jim jumped slightly as he turned his head towards the voice. His eyes widened as he saw the person who addressed him. If angels existed he could have sworn one was standing in front of him now. This woman was beautiful, nay gorgeous! She was tall, easily reaching 6"5 feet even without heels and even taller with them. She had soft facial features with rosy pink lips. The bangs of her hair was cut in a perfect straight line just above her eyes while the side locks were ended roughly at cheek level. The rest of her hair cascaded down her till her shoulders. Her purple eyes looked at him with such curiosity and child-like wonder that he could not help but feel ashamed to look directly into them. Two bright red marks adorned her cheeks starting from the base of her eyes and ending at her jawline in the shape of a canine tooth. The world seemed to slow down as the corners of her lips turned up into a smile.

Jim's adolescent mind almost couldn't comprehend what it was seeing. "Yeah, I had the same reaction coming here for the first time too." She said. Her voice was like the ringing of a hundred tiny bells to him. He shook his head to clear his thoughts.

"Uh, yeah, I am. This place is amazing." He said while looking around more. To his right was a bustling market, with all kinds of people buying and trading goods. All hidden under an upturned ship held up by four wooden pillars as a makeshift roof. High above them was a circular building with tubes and pipes sticking out every which way spewing out black smoke. To his left was a pond with a huge tree growing out of it. To the left of that was a huge pile of books with a short Wyverian researcher sitting on top of it, frustratedly scratching his head. Below that and to the left was a pulley system with a monster he had never seen before currently dozing away, appearing to be tranquilized. Wyverians and hunters were gathered around it, studying every inch of it.

"That's what we call an Anjanath." The woman beside Jim said as she noticed him staring at the downed monster. "Just got back from capturing it." Jim whipped his head his head in the direction of the woman. She was a Hunter?! He started to notice it then. She wore a form fitting body suit with some sort of hide plating on it that hugged her curvaceous form. Wisps of glowing blue ethereal like fabric hung off of certain places, blowing with every slight breeze that came by. Her helmet was held between her forearm and her hip, its long veil was scraping along the floor. The scalp of the helm was adorned with a crown like decoration with spikes jutting outwards and purple gems embedded below each spike.

On her back was a light blue scimitar-like longsword. The scabbard of the sword was dark blue with golden lines running the length of it with golden plating at the chape of the scabbard. The same strips ethereal like fabric as her armor adorned the loop-guard while scaly hide wrapped around the grip of the sword. It looked elegant yet extremely deadly at the same time, a weapon fitting of royalty.

The woman spoke again, "You like to stare, don't you." she said with an amused chuckle. Jim's cheeks turned a crimson red as he averted his eyes from the woman. She gave an airy chuckle as she turned around, "C'mon, I'll show you around the place." she said as she started to walk away. Jim gathered his wits about him and chased after her. She strode over to the pond area, waving over at three individuals as she passed them. A dark skinned woman with corn rows for half her hair and wavy flowing hair for the other, an old short Wyverian wearing a yellow hard hat and pulling down some levers and a tall young Wyverian surrounded by books. They were all stationed in front of a huge spinning wheel of sorts that carried goods and supplies from the top of the deck to the one bellow. They all waved back with bright smiles on their faces.

"That was the Resource Center. Those three handle the investigations and bounties that Hunters can take for rarer rewards." she explained. "That right there," she pointed ahead of her to the huge tree growing out of a pond, "is the Botanical Research Center, to the left of it is the Monster Research Center..." And so, the woman led him on a tour of the wonderful place called Astera, introducing him to the many colorful people that called this place their home. The place was simply amazing, and the view from The Overlook behind the The Smithy... Took his breath away.

When they were done with the tour she led him back to the market area where The Captain of the Argosy was sitting comfy on his stool talking with an eager Hunter. The Captain saw them approach and politely ended his conversation to greet them. "Well if it isn't mah favor'te customer!" The Captain loudly greeted with a beaming smile. His shirtless body was glistening with sweat from the heat of the day and the humidity from the open ocean. His dark goggles and brown bandana still clung tightly to his head but was now damp from his sweat. "Wha' can ah git f'r The famous Sapphire Star?" He asked.

Jim's world fell apart around him after he heard those two last words. "You're The Sapphire Star?!" he yelled out loud.

The woman gave him an amused smile. "I prefer Vi (Vee)." she said calmly. Jim couldn't believe his luck. He got to follow around THE Sapphire Star! Tales of her and her team's achievements and acts of bravery reached even them in the Old World. He could only imagine how the 99th Emperor must have felt when he heard of his daughter being granted a special title by the Hunter's Guild.

The Hunter's Guild works under the Emperor's employ and they get most of their funding from the Royal Family. They work to ensure that the balance between man and nature is kept and not disturbed. The Hunter's Guild sends out Hunters to repel, or if necessary slay, any monster that may cause lasting damage to the ecosystem or any dangerous monster that strays too close to a settlement. In turn Hunters who stray from the core of the Guild are dealt with immediately, effectively and severely. It was the Guild Knight's job to track poachers, rogue Hunters and wanted criminals to bring to the Guild where they will be judged. It doesn't usually end well for the convicts though, there's a reason why there's not many prisons located in the Old World.

The Royal Family was well liked by the public for they provided help to any village that was attacked by a monster or destroyed by a natural disaster. The Hunter's Guild and The Royal family had always kept in close relations so it wasn't much of a surprise when the daughter of the current Emperor announced that, like her father before her, she would be joining the Hunter's Guild. what did come as a surprise though was that she was planning on joining The Fifth Fleet on their Journey to "The New World" as they called it.

Emperor was a 'family-before-work' type of man so predictably he forbid it. He would have rather had his daughter where he could have constant watch over her rather than sporadic updates from when The Argosy came back into town. The princess was a stubborn girl though, so she disguised herself so no one would notice her and stowed away in the Fleet ship and sailed off toward new adventures.

The Emperor was surprisingly calm while the whole nation went into a state of panic when news leaked out that the princess was missing. Everyone calmed down when the Emperor announced that he knew exactly where the princess was and expected her to do something like this sooner or later. After all, they were so much alike. Still he was a father so he sent three of the Guild's strongest and most loyal Hunter's after her to protect her.

The princess hardly needed the extra protection though for she was one of the Nation's best Longsword practitioners. Not only was she one of the very best with a longsword but she had mastered 13 of the 14 types of weapons. She was also well know for her overwhelming control over her Spirit compared to the other Hunters. Every living thing in the world had Spirit, from the fabled Fatalis to a blade of grass. Humans and some monsters have learned to harness their Spirit and use it as a tool.

The strength of a Hunter relies on how strong his or her Spirit is and how well they can control it. Spirit allows hunters to strengthen their bodies and increase their endurance and stamina well beyond what could be possible for a civilian. Hunter's can also imbue their Spirit into their weapons giving it special properties. For example, A Hunter using a Hammer can imbue his or her Spirit into it to make the Hammer lighter allowing him or her to swing the Hammer much faster and harder than normal. A Dual Sword user can use their Spirit to go into a hyper focused state widely know Demon Mode. A longsword user imbues their Spirit into the edge of their blade, shearing off pieces of their opponent's Spirit and adding it on to their blade in what is known as The Spirit Blade Combo.

The Princess herself added three new move sets to the traditional longsword, and that was The Spirit Thrust, The Spirit Helm Breaker and The Foresight Slash. However, there are still some hunters who do not have such immaculate control over their Spirit so they turn to more technical weapons like the Light and Heavy Bowguns, the Insect Glaive, the Gunlance, the Switch Axe and the Charge Blade.

Jim was brought back to reality when Vi gently closed his hanging mouth with her finger tip. "Close your mouth, sweetie. You'll catch flies." She said before turning to the shirtless man. "Captain, I've been thinking about returning to the Old World for a bit of vacation. The New World is exciting and all but I'm feeling a tad bit homesick, and I'm sure father wouldn't mind the visit. So? How about it? Me and my team hitch a ride on The Argosy back to the Old World. We'll pay if you want." She said.

"Yer Highness, ah would have ta be crazier than tha fool who once tried to ride a Kirin on a dare ta refuse yeh of all people!" The Captain laughed loudly attracting some curious glances from passers by.

Vi gave an airy laugh and said, "Uncle Torrin only did that once! People are never going to let him live that down, are they?" she shook her head with an exasperated sigh. "Either way, that's wonderful news. I'll go tell the rest of my team to pack up. I'm sure they're missing home just as much as me. Oh! Better not forget to tell The Admiral and The Commander." She said before bowing and walking off to gather her things, waving and smiling at those who passed by.

"Aye misseh, yeh go do jus' tha'. We leave on tha morrow and no la'er!" The Captain yelled after her before turning to the teenager with a shit eating grin. "Ya kno' the Emperor would have yah head if he knew ye were starin' so hard a' 'is daugh'er." The Captain said. Jim looked down with raging red cheeks and mumbled something under his breath. The Captain laughed once again at his expense.

Later that evening The Captain called for a meeting on the deck of The Argosy to warn the crew members who was coming along with them and to be on their best behavior. Most of the crew were shocked to hear that they were going to have royalty sailing with them. The crew spent the rest of the day scrubbing and cleaning the ship from the bottom deck all the way to the crow's nest. The Captain oversaw the whole cleaning operation and even cleaned out his own quarters. Vi was really impressed with the amount of effort that the crew put in to cleaning up their ship, it was almost like it was brand new.

They set sail in the morning, heading back towards their first and true home. However, the journey back was not as smooth as the journey to the New World. Halfway through the voyage a storm had suddenly appeared out of nowhere. One minute they were sailing under blue skies and sun, the next minute dark ominous clouds had rolled in and it started to rain heavily. The Captain immediately started barking orders at the crew and they immediately set about doing as he said. Even Vi and her team ran back and forth doing anything they can to help. Mostly they lifted the heavy objects like whole trays of cannon balls or barrels full of supplies.

xXFlashback EndXx

The screech was heard over the howling winds and the roaring thunder. The regular people all wondered what could have made that screech but to the hunters, it was as if all the wrong stars crossed on that fateful voyage. Everyone looked up to the dark clouds in hopes to see what made the screech.

Another screech.

Glowing red eyes.

A flash of lighting.

A silhouette in the clouds

"No no no. Not now." Vi whispered to her self as she recognized the silhouette. The short snout, the long whip like whiskers, the two massive golden horns, the fin like appendages, the long muscular tail. There's no mistaking it. "Amatsumagatsuchi..." The Avatar of Storms, The Spirit of Squalls, The Eye of the Storm. Her team and her would have been able to defend themselves and the crew... if they were on anything other than a boat! Worst of all was that the monster did not look happy to see them, as evident by the storm currently battering them. The Elder Dragon poked its head through the clouds. The crew and the monster stared at each other for a while before it screeched again, louder this time. "Captain! Get us out of here!" Vi shouted. That seemed to knock The Captain out of his shocked stupor and he started barking orders again.

"Loose the sails! Abandon all unnecessary cargo!" He shouted. The crew all broke their daze and set about following The Captain's orders. Barrels and canon balls were all thrown overboard among other things. They could all be restocked and the Emperor had a plan set aside for sailors who lost their catch to monsters. They had no hope of fighting the Amatsu when they were on a boat especially on a boat not made for fighting monsters. The Argosy was a merchant ship, built to ferry goods and a set amount of people over the ocean. It was not built to take on a very angry, very powerful Elder Dragon. They could only hope and pray to the Five Goddess' that the Amatsu lost interest in them and left them alone soon. Sadly though they had no such luck as the Amatsu was in a very very foul mood.

As the ship began to move once more the Amatsu began to convulse. It then began to spin faster and faster until it created a huge tornado that began to suck them in. "Oars! Bring ou' the oars and row like ye life depended on i'! While yer at it, fold those sails!" The Captain hollered. Some men groaned as they climbed back up the net to fold the sails once more. Vi and her team ran below deck and started to paddle with the rest of the crew. They managed to escape the vortex after an arduous hour of battling the storm. All the while the Amatsu was firing highly pressurized beams of water at them at them.

The main mast had been completely cut off by the time they managed to escape the vortex. The Amatsu was just toying with them, at any point it could have just shot a beam at them and sunk the ship. Instead, it just chose to fire near them. As they made to row away from the enraged Elder Dragon it decided that it had enough and began to convulse again. It flew up higher into the clouds as moisture began to gather into a ball in front of its snout. It gave one more screech as it let loose its most powerful beam of water. The first beam tore through the ship vertically, the second beam quartered it horizontally and the final beam cut through the wreckage vertically again, just to be sure. Crewmen were thrown from the ship and into the water below, including Vi and her team. The Amatsu left after that, seemingly satisfied with the damage it had cost and the lives it had seemingly taken.

What remained of the crew was later rescued by a ship that was chasing after the Amatsu. Everyone was rescued including The Captain and Jim... Everyone except the daughter of the 99th Emperor of the Nation and her team of Hunters...

Author's notes:

(PLS READ)

It is currently 3:49 am on August 22, 2018 and I feel like what I think being high would feel like. Well, whatever. Welcome to my first story on this site. Constructive criticism and reviews is greatly appreciated. Always open to suggestions. Also, I currently do not have a Beta so please forgive any missed spelling or grammar mistakes. I will try my best to correct all of them before publishing a new chapter. I encourage you to visit my profile as there will be important information on there regarding new chapters and such.

Now, Vi may seem a little bit over powered but trust me when I saw, she is the type of person who avoid open conflict between another person if possible but is not afraid to throw down if needed. She much prefers to be the one to break up a fight rather than be the one to instigate it so she wont fight until absolutely necessary.

So... my goal for this story is to get it onto TV Tropes... eventually. The pairing for Vi has been decided already, you guys decide on who else goes with who. Just remember, the final decision is up to me in terms of romance. I tried to add in as much of what would be important in the future while also being careful not to alter the lore of the series as much as possible. I also tried to explain the how game mechanics like the Dual Blade's Demon Mode and the Longsword's Spirit Gauge would work lore wise as best I could. "Spirit" would be the Monster Hunter equivalent to RWBY's "Aura." Most of the information in that big block of text will be important so I encourage you to keep them in mind.

Character Info Sheet:

Name: Vioh Lette

Height: 6"5

Gender: Female

Occupation: Hunter, daughter of the 99th Emperor, healer

Affiliations: The Empire,The Hunter's Guild, The Fifth Fleet, Leader of her own hunting party (members will be revealed next chapter)

Titles: The Sapphire Star, Her Highness, Vi (pronounced Vee)

Equipment: Xeno'jiiva Alpha set (maxed), Empress Sword "Styx" (Health augment), Unknown Charm (revealed next chapter)

Skills: Proficiency in all weapon types except the Hunting Horn, great advice giver, potion maker

Personality: Easy going, motherly, elder sisterly, critical thinker, leader, serious when she needs to be, will do anything to protect the ones she cares about